Fluid actuated automatic portable fire extinguisher



United States Patent Inventor Joseph S. De Palma 109 Carlson Court, Closter, New Jersey 07624 Appl. No. 746,978

Filed July 23, 1968 Patented Dec. 1, 1970 FLUID ACTUATED AUTOMATlC PORTABLE FIRE EXTINGUISHER 10 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 169/27, 169/32 Int. Cl A62c 35/02 7 Field of Search 169/5, 6, 7,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,452,819 7/1969 De Palma 169/27 Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood, Jr. Assistant Examiner-Michael Y. Mar Attorney-Clarence A. OBrien & Harvey B, Jacobson ABSTRACT: A portable automatic fire extinguisher, such as normally charged with a bicarbonate solution and an acid to be reacted therewith, which includes a heat reactive actuator operatively mounted exteriorly of the extinguisher housing which upon expansion in response to an abnormal temperature rise releases an acid-containing receptacle into the bicarbonate solution by ejecting the acid container from its resilient bindings. The acid and the bicarbonate solution react forming the fire extinguishing fluid which exits through an orifice in the top of the extinguisher to impinge upon a diffuser plate interposed in the path of discharge of the fluid.

Patented Dec. 1, 1970 Sheet, 2 of 2 INVENTOR.

Joseph S DePa/ma FLUID ACTUATEI) AUTOMATIC PORTABLE FIRE EXTINGUISI-IER The present invention relates to a device that will convert a portable fire extinguisher of the type where two or more liquids are mixed to form the extinguishing fluid, to an automatic fire extinguisher which is activated by an externally mounted heat sensitive element. More specifically, the present invention relates to a device that will convert any portable fire extinguisher where one of the components may be releasably held out of mixing with the other components. into an automatic fire extinguisher where a container of heat sensitive fluid is mounted exteriorly of the extinguisher casing and operatively connected to the component holding device so that when the ambient temperature gets abnormally high the fluid expands and defeats the holding device and allows the container to be released thereby mixing the components.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a portable automatic fire extinguisher that is activated in response to the sensing of an abnormally high ambient temperature.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a portable fire extinguisher that is activated by the expansion of a confined volume of heat sensitive fluid.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a device that will convert a portable fire extinguisher into an automatic heat sensitive fire extinguisher.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to apex thereof.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the bottle release housing be- FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 5-5 ofFIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 6-6 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is an exploded group perspective view of the bottle release housing.

Referring now to the drawing, numeral 10 generally indicates the inventive device and numeral 12 indicates a fire extinguisher casing or body. The device is mounted on a standard cap 14 with a ring grasp 16 mounted thereon. The cap has a centrally disposed threaded opening 18 into which is threaded a discharge nozzle 20 with orifice 22 therein. A discharge tube 24 is fixed to the lower or internal end of nozzle 20 and extends to within a short distance of the bottom of the body or casing 12 where it. terminates in a flared or enlarged end 26.

A bottle release housing 28 has a main cylindrical body 30 and a reduced diameter, externally threaded end 32 that is received in a threaded opening 34 adjacent the nozzle 20 in the cap 14 and extends therethrough. A shoulder 35 formed between the reduced end 32 and the main body 30 abuts against the lower or inside of cap 14 when end 32 is threaded into opening 34. The lower end of body 30 has an enlarged bore 36 which has a threaded portion 38 next adjacent the enlarged bore 36 which bore ends in a shoulder 39 on the interior thereof. Immediately above the threaded portion 38 and beginning at shoulder 39, is the fluid reservoir 40 which extends substantially to the top of body 30 where the bore reduces to passage 42 which extends through the threaded end 32. Two opposed slots 44 are cut through the circumference of main body 30 in the area of the enlarged bore 36 for reasons to be set forth hereinafter.

An externally threaded nipple 46, formed of rubber and adapted to be threaded into opening 38 in housing 28, has a main cylindrical outside diameter 48, with threads thereon,

A solid plastic disc 58 is adapted to be received in the polygonal inside bore 52 of nipple 46. The disc '58 has a flat washerlike ledge 60 at the bottom and a truncated cone 62 rising therefrom, with a center bore 64 extending therethrough. The diameter of the base of the cone portion 62 is such that it will be received within the sides of polygonal bore 52, and the ledge 60 will abut the lower edge of the nipple.

An acid bottle 66 is adapted to be received in and releasably held by the housing 28. The bottle has a flared opening 68 with a lip 70 thereon that abuts the ledge 60 of the disc 58 when the bottom is inserted into the enlarged bore 36 of the housing 28. With the bottle inserted in this position, the lip 70 ends adjacent the slots 44 in the circumference of the housing. A resilient rubber ring 72 is placed around the circumference of the body-portion 30 at the slots 44, so that the ring 72 will extend therethrough and releasably clamp the flared lip 70 of the bottle, (see FIG. 5). Thus, any movement imparted to disc 58 will push the bottle lip free of ring 72. The bottle has a mounting and guiding ring assembly 74 with the ring 76 thereof clamped around the circumference ofthe bottle below the midpoint thereof. A second ring 78 is connected to ring 76 by a swivel 80, with the inner diameter of ring 78 being slightly larger than the outer diameter of the discharge tube 24 so that the ring 78 will slide freely therealong and guide the bottle along the length of the tube 24 thereby distributing the contents of the bottle throughout the casing. Weight 82 is attached to the neck of the bottle so that when the bottle is released from the housing 28 the weight will turn the bottle upside down around the swivel and drag the bottle the length of tube 24 and stop at flared end 26 thereon.

A quantity of heat-sensitive liquid having a high heat absorption and expansion rate is contained in a hollow metal spiral tube 84, which is elliptical in cross section, and has a plug 86, in one end thereof. The spiral tube 84 extends for approximately 360 and is fixed at its other end to a hollow fluid block 88 which has two ports 90 with closures 92 therefor on its top surface. A tube 94 is fixed at its upper end to the bottom of fluid block 88 and communicates with the hollow'interior thereof. The lower .end of tube 94 has an internal threaded portion 96 that' is received on the threaded end 32'of housing 28 that protrudes beyond the upper surface of cap 14. With the tube 94 thusinstalled on the threaded end 32 of housing 28, a fluid chamber is defined which includes: the

the closures 92 are removed from their openings 90 in block 88 and a sensitive, thermally expansible liquid is poured into one of the ports while the second port serves to purge the chamber of all air, and when filled the closures are reinserted.

Deflection disc 98 is mounted on the lower edge of fluid block 88 to overlie the orifice 22 of nozzle 20. The fire extinguisher fluid ejects from the orifice 22 and impinges on the disc 98 to spray a pattern around the extinguisher. The size and shape of the disc 98 may be chosen to produce an area of coverage desired from the extinguisher.

The automatic heat-sensitive actuating mechanism disclosed herein can be back-fitted to presentextinguishers or provided on new articles of manufacture. The device, as set forth above, is mounted on standard caps to fit standard extinguisher casings. In operation the casing would be filled with extend along'slots 44. The bottle 66 would then be insertedinto the enlarged opening 36 of housing 28 and the lip 70 of the bottle forced past the rubber ring so as to firmly seat the lip against ledge 60 of disc 58. The cap 14 would then be installed on a casing 12 to complete the charging of the extinguisher. With the extinguisher thus charged and ready for operation, the presence of any abnormally high temperature would cause the sensitive fluid in the spiral tube to absorb the heat and expand. Since all of the external components defining the chamber are metal, as set forth above, the liquid would expand against the dome 54 of nipple 46. The dimple 56 in the top of the dome influences the dome to collapse inward on itself, as shown in FIG. 4, and bear against the disc 58 which in turn bears against the lip 70 of the bottle and forces it free of the ring 72. The weight 82, coupled with the low mounting of clamping ring 76 on bottle 66, turns the bottle upside down around pivot 80 and drags it along discharge tube 24 to the bottom thereof where flared opening 26 retains it. The mixing of the components creates carbon dioxide gas which rises to the top of the casing and exerts a downward pressure on the fluid and forces it up the discharge tube and out orifice 22. The fluid thus exiting orifice 22 impinges on disc 98 to disperse the fluid in the predetermined pattern.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described. and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

lclaim:

1. An automatic, thermally responsive fire extinguisher, comprising: a casing with an upwardly disposed opening therein, a closure means for said opening having an orifice and a passage therein, thermally expansible means contained on the outside of said closure means to react through said passage and release a container from a mounting member within said closure means for discharging the contents of the container into the casing. Y

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said thermally expansibie means is a spiral tube filled with liquid and attached to said passage.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein said mounting member is a housing assembly with a flexible seal to contain said fluid and bear againstthe container.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein the mounting member includes a resilient ring that engages and retains the container.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein the flexible seal is urged against the container to release the container from said mounting member.

6. In combination with a portable fire extinguisher of the type using chemically interacting components to pressurize and disperse a fluid, an automatic thermally responsive actuating means, comprising: a closure member and an orifice therethrough, a thermally expansible assembly mounted on said member to react therethrough, mounting means associated on the other side of said closure to communicate with said assembly and releasably retain a container for one of the components, whereby when said assembly expands said container is released from said mounting means and discharges its component for chemical interaction with another component.

7. The device of claim 6 wherein said thermally expansible assembly is a metallic container mounted on said closure and filled with a thermally expansible fluid.

8. The device ofclaim 7 wherein said mounting means has a chamber to receive said expanding fluid and use said expansion to release said container in response thereto.

9. in an automatic thermally responsive fire extinguisher, a chemical release mechanism comprising a conduit connected to an extinguisher casing and having thermally expansible fluid therein, a pressure sensitive flexible seal positioned at an outward end of the conduit, and a chemical container ositioned adjacent the seal wherein expansion of the liquid against the seal in response to abnormal ambient temperature rise causes urgin displacement of the seal a ainst the container thereby re easing the container into t e casing, the

chemical in the container mixing with a second chemical in the casing to form a fire extinguishing material.

10; The structure as set forth in claim 9 wherein the container is normally positioned in an upper portion of the casing and is caused to move downwardly into the lower portion of the casing by action of gravity when the container is released for more effective interaction of the chemicals. 

